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Managing the locals: employee relations in South Asian restaurants

Managing the locals: employee relations in South Asian restaurants
Managing the locals: employee relations in South Asian restaurants
This paper examines the management of employee relations in South Asian firms in the UK independent restaurant sector. Key working practices pertaining to the employment relationship are examined in a particular socio-economic and spatial context. Acknowledging such contexts facilitates an appreciation of how ethnicity and employment relations interact, rather than abstracting culture from the material context in which it operates. Consistent with this analytic focus, a mixed embeddedness perspective (Kloosterman et al. 1999) is adopted which recognizes the importance of both economic and social aspects of ethnic minority entrepreneurship. A qualitative methodology, drawing upon 23 case histories (involving both employer and employee perspectives) is deployed. The indications from this research suggest that the employment relationship is an outcome of the fluid interaction of social, economic and geographical contexts. This renders problematic both culturalist and purely economic approaches to ethnic minority entrepreneurship. Future research should carefully consider how the employment relationship is influenced by its embeddedness within specific communities.
employee relations, ethnic minority, enterprise, social embeddedness
0898-5626
229-245
Ram, Monder
259f6820-63d0-480e-b3f6-d55bb6ad8a02
Marlow, Sue
f07037f5-2471-4f2f-a901-4ad15414d473
Patton, Dean
eb4a56db-4f69-4dd8-984f-44921143b643
Ram, Monder
259f6820-63d0-480e-b3f6-d55bb6ad8a02
Marlow, Sue
f07037f5-2471-4f2f-a901-4ad15414d473
Patton, Dean
eb4a56db-4f69-4dd8-984f-44921143b643

Ram, Monder, Marlow, Sue and Patton, Dean (2001) Managing the locals: employee relations in South Asian restaurants. Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, 13 (3), 229-245. (doi:10.1080/08985620010029280).

Record type: Article

Abstract

This paper examines the management of employee relations in South Asian firms in the UK independent restaurant sector. Key working practices pertaining to the employment relationship are examined in a particular socio-economic and spatial context. Acknowledging such contexts facilitates an appreciation of how ethnicity and employment relations interact, rather than abstracting culture from the material context in which it operates. Consistent with this analytic focus, a mixed embeddedness perspective (Kloosterman et al. 1999) is adopted which recognizes the importance of both economic and social aspects of ethnic minority entrepreneurship. A qualitative methodology, drawing upon 23 case histories (involving both employer and employee perspectives) is deployed. The indications from this research suggest that the employment relationship is an outcome of the fluid interaction of social, economic and geographical contexts. This renders problematic both culturalist and purely economic approaches to ethnic minority entrepreneurship. Future research should carefully consider how the employment relationship is influenced by its embeddedness within specific communities.

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More information

Published date: 2001
Keywords: employee relations, ethnic minority, enterprise, social embeddedness
Organisations: Management

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 37227
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/37227
ISSN: 0898-5626
PURE UUID: 2be20695-ebc1-444f-8741-600668e454e8

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 25 May 2006
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 07:58

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Contributors

Author: Monder Ram
Author: Sue Marlow
Author: Dean Patton

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